"If you look at the number of victims, this was indiscriminate and there is indeed a possibility this was terrorism," police chief Dai Bachtiar told reporters at Jakarta's airport before leaving for Bali.Posted on 10/12/2002 7:15:24 PM PDT by Ranger
BALI, Indonesia (Reuters) - More than 100 people, mostly tourists, were killed in bomb attacks on Saturday night on Indonesia's resort island of Bali, a hospital official said, and more bodies were still being pulled out of the rubble on Sunday.
Two bombs exploded in the heart of the main Kuta Beach tourist area near the popular Sari nightclub which suffered the brunt of the damage, and one was detonated at Sanur, near a U.S. honorary consulate.
Windows were blown out in buildings within a 500-yard radius of the Sari and wrecked up to 15 cars. The smell of burned flesh hung in the air.
The dead included nationals from Australia, Britain, France, Germany, New Zealand and Sweden and Indonesia's police chief said terrorism was possibly to blame.
"If you look at the number of victims, this was indiscriminate and there is indeed a possibility this was terrorism," police chief Dai Bachtiar told reporters at Jakarta's airport before leaving for Bali.
The blasts come at a time of growing security concern in the world's most populous Muslim nation following terror threats, and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the explosions appeared to the work of a "terrorist organization."
"It does look as though a terrorist organization was involved, and secondly it clearly looks as though this attack has been coordinated, and it clearly looks like an attack against foreign interests," he told Australian Broadcasting Corp television.
Last week sources said the United States was considering withdrawing some embassy personnel from Indonesia after a grenade blast in the capital raised questions about Jakarta's ability to provide security.
Bali police spokesman Yatim Suyatmo said police believed all the explosive devices were homemade bombs.
Richard Poore, a 37-year-old visitor from New Zealand who works as a television presentation director, told Reuters he had started to film the scene.
"I saw limbs lying on the ground. I got to the stage where I couldn't film any more because it made me feel physically ill. I've never seen anything like it in 12 years of reporting."
Downer said there were about 40 Australians in hospitals in Bali and of those about 15 were seriously injured.
An officer said the explosions had occurred virtually simultaneously at around 11:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. EDT).
"There are more than 100 dead but we can't give the exact number," Sanga Hospital communications chief Dr. Puta Putra Wisade told Reuters by telephone. He said bodies were still being brought into the hospital.
Early on Sunday flames licked into the air around the rubble of the Sari as tourists carried victims away from the carnage, many half-naked and moaning in pain.
A local photographer said windows had been blown out up to 500 yards away from the Sari and the main blast had wrecked up to 15 cars and been heard many miles away.
"The Sari club is gone. You can smell the bodies of those who died," he said.
A police officer said: "It's difficult to identify people because they have been completely charred."
A U.S. embassy spokeswoman said no one had been hurt in the third explosion, which occurred 50 yards from the honorary U.S. consulate in Sanur, another tourist area about 30 minutes from Kuta.
She said one of the other blasts had been caused by a car bomb, though police said they had not yet established this.
Some critics say Indonesia is the weakest link in the U.S.-led war on terror in Southeast Asia, partly because the government has concerns about cracking down on radical Muslim groups for fear of upsetting the vast moderate mainstream.
Indonesia as a whole is 85 percent Muslim, and U.S. officials have said that while most are moderates, the al Qaeda network Washington blames for the September 11, 2001, attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center has been trying to establish a foothold there.
While a number of regions in Indonesia, and the capital Jakarta, have been hit by violence in recent years, majority-Hindu Bali had long been considered a safe haven and spared from any unrest.
It is Indonesia's most popular tourist destination, and a favorite for Australians and Japanese.
"This is a major incident, in terms of the loss of life and the fact that, unless the information changes, it looks like a premeditated attack," a foreign risk consultant in Jakarta said.
The consultant, who declined to be identified, said the effect would be serious for Indonesia. "The impact on Bali will be major. Look at the large number of foreigners in this."
SATURDAY NIGHT REVELERS
The tourists hit by the blasts had been reveling on a typical Saturday night in Kuta Beach .
The main explosion at the Sari club left a hole five feet deep and 12 by 15 feet in area, police said.
One visitor to Bali said many terrified tourists had left their hotel rooms to sleep in open areas or on the beach after the attack. Many were getting ready to leave on the first available flights.
The British Foreign Ministry said there were nine Britons among the wounded, but none so far listed among those killed. The U.S. embassy spokeswoman had no details on whether any Americans had died or been wounded.
Earlier on Saturday evening, a suspected homemade bomb had exploded in the front yard of the Philippine consulate in the Indonesian city of Manado, causing some damage but no casualties in an attack officials blamed on terrorists.
The explosion blew out the windows of the two-story consulate and knocked over the gate of the compound.
I've always found it interesting that certain religions damn others to the point that they think it's okay to randomly kill as many of their innocents as possible. Should some of their own people get killed in the process, it's still okay. Allah be praised.
We'll have to wait for the outcome, but it appears that religion of peace is at it again.
How long before mosques full of people all over the world start going BOOM!
Kill them all, let allah sort them out ...
Death Toll in Bali Blasts 150, Mostly Foreigners
Sat Oct 12,10:33 PM ET
JAKARTA (Reuters) - One-hundred-and-fifty people have been killed in bomb blasts on Indonesia's resort island of Bali, a hospital official said Sunday.
He estimated some 75 percent were foreigners.
"There are 150 dead," Sanga Hospital communications chief Dr. Puta Putra Wisade told Reuters by telephone. Asked his estimate of how many were not Indonesians, he said: "Seventy-five percent are foreigners."
Three explosions occurred nearly simultaneously late on Saturday night in Bali. Police have said the blasts, one of which occurred near a U.S. honorary consulate, were caused by homemade bombs.
Not soon enough.
I was in Bali two years ago and while I had a good time, I was very disappointed. Not like the hype I had heard. Went to the next island west (Lombok) and enjoyed it much more. Only there weren't the hundreds of topless women in Lombok as is Bali. It was filled with Aussies and French and I almost never saw another American.
Earth to France...
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